REU TASK PLAN (TEMPLATE)
Task Owner: Student’s Name
Task Director: Advisor’s Name
Origin Date: Date of first version
Revision: Date of most current revision (a weekly or biweekly revision is strongly suggested for an 8-week summer program)
Task Objective: State your objectives, succinctly and specifically, in one to three sentences. Use keywords and vocabulary that are familiar to those in your field.
Overview of Task: Give some background about your research. Start with a re-statement of your objectives using language and vocabulary that are appropriate for a more general audience. Use examples and analogies, and define difficult terms as necessary. Finish by stating the significance of your research: why it is important, to whom or in what circumstances the value of your research will be evident.
Milestones: Duplicate the following format as many times as necessary to describe specific subtasks (milestones) that must be achieved. We focus here on deliverables (tangible products) that are oriented toward communications. Work with your advisor and graduate student to help define meaningful, achievable milestones. The last three deliverables (conference paper, final report, oral presentation) are required by the Computer Science and Engineering REU program. Other milestones might be: your first experimental results (communicated in a graph or table, with explanatory paragraph); subsequent experimental results; a new procedure (communicated with sketch of a model and a written explanation); or PowerPoint slides for your oral presentation.
Deliverable name: What is the specific product to be delivered? Due date:
Description of Deliverable: Provide a more detailed description if the name is not sufficient.
Quality Criteria: What is required for an excellent deliverable? Who will see/hear/read the product? What are their expectations, and what is their background? How may the deliverable be used? What is required for clarity, to meet scientific standards, to meet the requirements of the organization receiving the deliverable?
Deliverable name:Due date:
Description of Deliverable:
Quality Criteria:
Deliverable name:Due date:
Description of Deliverable:
Quality Criteria:
Deliverable name: Due date:
Description of Deliverable:
Quality Criteria:
Deliverable name: Conference or Journal PaperDue date: by the end of the program.
Description of Deliverable: The paper must be submitted to an appropriate conference or journal by December 31, 2007.
Quality Criteria: Criteria for the conference or journal paper will be forthcoming.
Deliverable name: Final ReportDue date: last week of the program
Description of Deliverable: Final report on research accomplishments.
Quality Criteria: Criteria for the final report will be forthcoming.
Deliverable name: Final Oral Presentation(s)Due date: last week of the program
Description of Deliverable: Final presentation(s) given by REU students during the last week of the program.
Quality Criteria: Criteria for the presentation will be forthcoming.